In needling technology, there is a known phenomenon that the needles, permanently arranged in the needle board in a certain fixed pattern, lead to a stitching pattern in the surface of the fleece which is dependent on the horizontal feed of the fleece per vertical stroke of the needles which stitch the fleece. In addition, it is possible for longitudinal distortions to occur in the fleece web during needling. Also to be mentioned are transverse “jumps” which influence this stitching pattern. More-or-less uniform stitching can be produced only in a few feed ranges. It is often possible, however, to observe the occurrence of transverse stripes, longitudinal stripes, diagonals, or actual patternings in which the stitches are not equidistant from each other. Instead of such equidistance, there is an excessive number of stitches in certain areas and an absence of stitches in others. Such stitching patterns are damaging to the quality of the end product with respect to strength, density, wear resistance, and surface uniformity.
It is an object of the present invention to make the arrangements of the stitching points in a needled fleece more uniform and thus to arrive at a more homogeneous stitching pattern.